"Hm? The nether butterflies let that group of elves run away?"
Castorice, who was hurrying toward the center of the lake, was slightly taken aback, because the nether butterflies she had just released sent back news saying that the group of elves had teleported away right as they were about to be caught.
"Forget it, who cares. I'm almost at the destination anyway."
Speaking of this, she raised her eyes and looked at the waters ahead; the central area of Crescent Lake was already close at hand.
A moment later, Castorice stopped steadily directly above the center of the lake. She looked down at the bottomless lake water beneath her feet, and then her mental perception began to extend downward.
Subsequently, upon perceiving that the center of this lake was at least several thousand meters deep, she couldn't help but fall into deep thought for a moment.
After thinking for a bit, Castorice couldn't come up with any good ideas. After all, it seemed she hadn't learned any abilities that could undo seals.
"Sigh, if only Your Excellency Cipher were here." She somewhat missed the authority of Trickery. "She would only need to speak the 'truth', and this seal would break on its own."
"It seems I'll have to use a clumsy method."
Seeing this, the last trace of gentleness in her eyes quickly faded, replaced by an icy coldness.
She tightly gripped the giant scythe flowing with deep purple light with both hands, her arms guiding the scythe to draw a full arc in the air.
Then, exerting strength from her waist, she swung forcefully from the bottom up toward the empty air in front of her!
"Embrace 'rebirth'! Pollux!"
Accompanied by her clear and cold chant, wherever the giant scythe passed, space was easily torn open like fragile silk!
A massive purple spatial rift, accompanied by an ear-piercing sound of shattering, appeared out of thin air above the center of the lake.
Right at this moment, emerald green magical radiance flashed continuously not far away, and four figures used teleportation magic to accurately appear at the edge of the central lake area.
"Outsider! Stop immediately! Do you know what you are do—"
The moment Patriarch Thorne, who was leading them, appeared, his gaze immediately locked onto Castorice and the massive spatial rift in front of her.
Seeing this, he wanted to open his mouth and sternly halt Castorice's actions.
However, before he could finish his words, they were forcefully choked back by the scene unfolding before his eyes, turning into a horrified gasp.
He saw two giant dragon claws, covered in dark purple scales and entwined with the Aura of Death, violently thrust out from inside that spatial rift.
Those dragon claws contained unimaginable, terrifying power. Gripping the two sides of the rift respectively, they tore outward fiercely, like ripping apart a piece of cloth!
Riiip—!!!
A teeth-grinding tearing sound clearly entered the ears of every elf. Under the terrified gazes of Thorne and the others, that spatial rift was forcibly expanded several times over.
Immediately following that, another anomaly occurred! The moment the rift expanded, the light in the entire central lake area suddenly dimmed, as if all light sources had been instantly drawn away.
The warm-colored twilight of dusk vanished without a trace. In its place was a purple moon hanging high in the sky, radiating a bright and clear glow, casting an enchantingly bizarre light across the lake surface.
At the same time, countless bizarre purple-white flowers rapidly began to grow at a visible rate on the surface of the originally rippling lake water. They grew rootlessly, blooming quietly on the lake surface, and in the blink of an eye, transformed the massive central lake area into an endless, beautiful yet eerie sea of flowers.
And against this backdrop of the world changing colors, a giant dragon entirely covered in deep purple scales, with a massive size that was suffocating, slowly stuck its majestic and ferocious head out of the expanded spatial rift, followed by its slender neck, its back covered in bone spikes, and its incredibly muscular body.
The pressure of death emitting from its entire body was like a physical tsunami, sweeping across the entire domain!
"This... this is... a dragon?!" The hand Patriarch Thorne used to grip his staff began to tremble uncontrollably. Having lived for tens of thousands of long years, he believed he had witnessed countless powerful existences, including those ancient dragons that roared in the heavens during the Dragon Clan Disaster. "But... why... why is the aura of this dragon so... so terrifying?!"
He clearly felt that the pressure exuding from the purple giant dragon before his eyes was entirely different from any dragon in his memory.
It was an aura of annihilation seemingly originating from the end of all things—heavy, icy, and despair-inducing.
In the face of this aura, he, a veteran legendary mage, found it difficult to muster even the slightest thought of confronting it. Only the most primal fear brought about by the instinct of life was screaming madly!
How was this possible?! How could a dragon that so transcended understanding exist in the world?!
Moreover...
Thorne turned his gaze with difficulty, scanning this forcibly altered heaven and earth.
A purple moon hung in the sky, a sea of flowers spread out, and a deathly silence prevailed.
"This is absolutely no ordinary domain... could it be... a divine domain nearing the level of laws?"
Feeling the laws contained within this domain, his voice dry and trembling with disbelief, he spoke a guess that terrified even himself.
...
'They chased quite fast.' The moment she successfully summoned Pollux, Castorice sensed the arrival of those four uninvited guests.
However, her mind was entirely on the target at the bottom of the lake, leaving her no time to pay attention to them for the moment.
"Woo..."
At this time, Pollux, having fully separated from the spatial rift, let out a low and affectionate whimper. Its massive body turned gracefully in the air, bringing that majestic dragon head close to Castorice, and gently rubbed against her cheek like a pet acting spoiled toward its master.
The scene was filled with a bizarre contrast of power and tenderness.
"Pollux."
The frost on Castorice's face melted, revealing a gentle and genuine smile.
She reached out and gently stroked the cold and hard scales on the giant dragon's cheek, her movements very practiced.
After a brief interaction with her partner, Castorice raised her hand to point at the deep center of the lake below, her tone returning to calm as she issued a clear command:
"Deep at the bottom of this lake, an Evil God's Progeny is sealed. Go and break that seal, can you do it?"
"Roar—!!!"
As soon as her words fell, Pollux let out a roar filled with confidence and power in response.
Then it jerked its head up, faced the lake surface below, and opened its giant maw that was large enough to swallow a small mountain.
In an instant, the permeating purple Aura of Death in the surroundings seemed to be summoned, madly converging into its dragon snout. A blinding purple-white energy light sphere rapidly took shape, radiating heart-palpitating ripples of destruction.
Boom—!!!!
The next instant, an incredibly thick purple-white dragon breath of flames, containing the ultimate power of annihilation, spewed forth from Pollux's mouth, aggressively bombarding the calm lake surface!
The moment the dragon flames touched the lake water, rings of ripples containing the Aura of Death immediately rippled outward, causing the entire lake surface to tremble violently!
Immediately following that, just a few seconds after the continuous impact of the dragon flames—
Crack—!!!
An incredibly clear sound of shattering rang out, transmitting distinctly into the depths of consciousness of every living being on the scene!
"The seal... has been... forcibly broken?! How is this possible?!"
Patriarch Thorne's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpricks, all color draining from his face as he let out a cry of disbelief.
He had never imagined that the ancient seal, constructed by pooling the lives of the first patriarch and countless martyrs, would be forcibly shattered in such a savage and unreasonable manner!
Screech—!!!!!!
Almost at the exact same instant the seal shattered, an inhuman shriek filled with twist, madness, violence, and endless resentment abruptly exploded from the deepest part of the lake!
This sound seemed capable of tearing apart the soul, driving any living being who heard it into madness!
Accompanied by this terrifying shriek, the already violently shaking lake surface completely lost control! Waves churned wildly, monstrous swells shot into the sky, and an unimaginably massive shadow was rushing up from the endless dark abyss at an astonishing speed!
Seeing this, Pollux stopped its breath in a timely manner and hovered in the air. Its giant dragon eyes coldly locked onto the churning lake surface below, quietly waiting for its prey to appear.
Within a few breaths, that shadow broke through the water surface, bringing up a sky full of muddy spray and foam, and exposing its ferocious and twisted full appearance beneath the bizarre backdrop of the purple moon and sea of flowers.
Castorice was finally able to clearly observe this Evil God's Progeny, which had been sealed for tens of thousands of years, with her naked eyes.
Its main body was an incomparably huge eyeball, looking as if it had been forcefully gouged out from some creature's eye socket along with its flesh and blood!
Constantly squirming dark red flesh formed its outer shell, covered in twisted blood vessels and ominous patterns.
Behind the eyeball, it was connected to countless dense, deathly pale tentacles that danced madly like nerve endings. They squirmed, emitting a nauseating, sticky aura.
And on the front of the eyeball, in the area that should have been the sclera and pupil, there was no pupil, only a spherical area emitting a faint blue light, like a miniature blue moon.
The moment her gaze touched this Evil God's Progeny, a powerful and filthy mental pollution instantly stabbed fiercely into Castorice's consciousness along her visual pathway!
However, this mental shock, which would be enough to instantly drive an ordinary legendary powerhouse insane, was dissolved in an instant when it touched the protective barrier originating from the river of souls around the periphery of Castorice's soul, failing to produce the slightest effect on her. She only frowned her delicate brows slightly.
Screech—!!!
Just upon emerging, the Evil God's Progeny once again let out a shriek full of anger and destructive desire. The mental attack contained within this soundwave instantly spread out!
"Ugh!"
Not far away, the three elven elders let out painful muffled groans almost simultaneously. Their faces instantly turned deathly pale, and their hands tightly clutched their heads. Their bodies bent over uncontrollably, clearly trying desperately to resist this howl that struck directly at the soul.
Even Patriarch Thorne, the strongest among them, revealed an extremely pained and hideous expression on his face. His body swayed slightly, barely managing to stand firm by relying on his powerful willpower and mana.
The shriek did not cease. The countless pale nerve-like tentacles behind the Evil God's Progeny suddenly grew wildly. Then, carrying viscous liquid, they tangled toward Castorice in the air from all directions!
Facing this attack, Castorice didn't even bat an eyelid. She simply looked at the noisy source and said softly with some impatience:
"So noisy."
Boom—!!!!
The instant her words fell, Pollux, hovering to the side, moved!
Its massive body erupted with a terrifying speed entirely inconsistent with its size. Like a purple lightning bolt tearing through space, it crossed the distance to the Evil God's Progeny in an instant!
A giant dragon claw covered in heavy scales, carrying enough force to shatter a mountain range, slapped fiercely onto that giant eyeball main body in the most savage manner!
Bang!!!
A muffled explosion erupted! The Evil God's Progeny's shriek was brutally interrupted, replaced by a bizarre sound as if flesh and internal organs were instantly squeezed and ruptured.
Subsequently, its massive body flew backwards miserably at a speed even faster than its ascent. It crashed heavily back into the lake surface, splashing up sky-high pillars of water and sprays of bizarre blue blood!
"Exterminate it, Pollux."
Castorice's voice remained calm as she issued the final extermination command.
"Roar—!!!"
Pollux let out a dragon's cry mixed with excitement and brutality, heralding the descent of destruction.
It opened its giant mouth again. This time, the converged energy far exceeded before! The blinding purple-white light instantly transformed into an intensely blazing red-white light that was impossible to look directly at, as if a miniature dead star was brewing in its mouth!
Boom—!!!!!!
A red-white dragon breath of flames, several times thicker than before and containing extreme high temperatures and annihilation properties, tore through the air. Carrying the terrifying might to burn mountains and boil seas, it accurately bombarded the water area where the Evil God's Progeny had fallen!
Screech—!!!
The Evil God's Progeny let out the most mournful shriek since its birth, but this sound seemed so faint and futile amidst the world-destroying roar of the dragon flames.
The dragon flames continued to erupt, the light growing ever more blazing. Its color gradually shifted from red-white to a pale white symbolizing absolute destruction!
The terrifying high temperature instantly vaporized a massive amount of lake water directly. The entire central lake area was completely enveloped by extremely dense white steam fog, turning into a giant steamer. The lake's water level began to drop sharply at a visible rate. The lamentations of the Evil God's Progeny had long been thoroughly drowned out by the roar of the dragon flames and the loud explosions of surging energy.
Phew...
A few seconds later, Pollux finally stopped this terrifying breath capable of altering the terrain, snorting out two streams of white smoke carrying the scent of sulfur and the Aura of Death from its nostrils.
Almost at the same time the breath stopped, a line of system prompt succinctly appeared in Castorice's line of sight:
[Killed the Evil God's Progeny: Eye of the Nether Moon, Stellar Jade +2400]
"It directly gave fifteen pulls? Counting the eight hundred Stellar Jade left over from before, that's exactly enough for twenty pulls."
Looking at the system prompt, Castorice muttered to herself.
Subsequently, she turned to Pollux, who was still exuding a suffocating pressure in the air, and issued a new command:
"Pollux, trouble you to go down and bring up the corpse of that Evil God's Progeny."
Seeing this, Pollux nodded its giant head and let out a low sound of agreement. Its massive body then slipped silently into the lake water, which was still churning with bubbles and waves of heat, diving toward the bottom of the lake.
However, not long after, Pollux surfaced from the water again. It shook its dragon head, splashing up a spray of water, and let out a low roar carrying a tone of confusion toward Castorice.
"Roar?" (I didn't find the corpse of that monster, but I seem to have discovered a large, unknown magic formation currently in operation?)
Hearing the information relayed back by Pollux, Castorice couldn't help but be stunned.
"You're saying... you didn't find the corpse of that Evil God's Progeny?" She repeated, her tone carrying obvious astonishment. "Instead, at the bottom of the lake... you discovered a large magic formation still in operation?"